NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM 2 Review

NARUTO: Ultimate Ninja STORM's sequel follows Naruto into the second chapter in his life, as players will take control of all of the most important characters present throughout the storyline leading all the way up to the ending of the Akatsuki arc.

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM 2 not only works as the continuation for the Ultimate Ninja STORM series, but it improves so much upon it that I would consider this to be the actual first game in the series. 

The title screen teases what will be the climax of the game, as players get to witness what is to come throughout their journeys, and it is immediately obvious that Ultimate Ninja STORM 2 has built upon its graphics and audio design, with the main screen that is significantly prettier than its predecessor.

The open-world exploration is gone in this iteration of the game; however, it does still contain some form of overworld exploration that allows the player to travel between known places of the series, such as Konoha and the training grounds, alongside some brand-new areas such as the roads between Sunagakure and Konoha.

Although the world traversal is fun, with countless things to pick up along the way that work to craft items, it can quickly start getting a bit monotonous walking among the same areas, oftentimes more than once with different squads as they make their way to the main quest. Despite the annoying and repetitive nature of doing this, I was quite fond of being able to walk places and pick up stuff along the path. 

The main campaign also gets a wonderful rehaul with far more dialogue that is more descriptive of what is happening in comparison to the original's habit of skipping entire chunks of the story in favour of adding more side quests. The dialogue no longer feels like fanfiction as it did in the original, and it is better written making it feel like an actual game and not a fan-made one.

The side quests remain in a much different form, with optional missions to do along the path that random characters will provide the player with. However, they are no longer invasive nor mandatory, so it feels so much more comfortable to be able to play those at my own pace rather than having to interrupt the main storyline in favour of saving some cats.

Although a lot of these side quests have become fetch quests, the game incorporates some that offer unique and humorous situations involving characters present throughout the anime, which is a welcome addition. The funnier side quests were particularly fun due to the silliness in their nature, very reminiscent of the anime and the funny filler episodes.

The quick time events are still present throughout the game, with gorgeous cinematics far prettier than those present in the original adorning the background as players aggressively mash the buttons in a feeble attempt at winning everything on their first try. 

The graphic and audio qualities have also been heavily built upon, with characters looking significantly higher resolution in contrast to the original's almost blurry models.

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM 2 also has a free battle mode alongside its Online multiplayer one. The fighting mode present in the game offers 44 characters present, to the difference of the 25 present in the original, along with 15 different support characters. 

The AI opponent is not as formidable as the original's game, with the "Super Hard" difficulty not really feeling all that challenging. However, the game does incorporate more battle options, which now allows the player to choose between single and team battles.

Although the AI isn't as challenging, the handicap might be a worthwhile fix for players looking to fight against the AI in battles and make the best of Ultimate Ninja STORM 2's free battle mode. And, those that want to fight against their friends can enjoy the remote play mode that allows couch co-op to be incorporated via streaming, which is also available in this game.

Although the player base isn't particularly dead, given that the game has a high-ish number for its 24-hour peak, finding an Online battle felt impossible, possibly in part due to the fact that this is the second installation in a series that has four.

With a large variety of characters, and a useful handicap system that allows for one player to do more or less damage, it's nice to see NARUTO SHIPPUDEN: Ultimate Ninja STORM 2 performing well. If not for the free battle mode present in the game, the story-based campaign is sure to catch the eye of fans of the anime and is good enough to warrant a purchase for it alone.